Bang!!
Jekain's sealing field shattered.
Black fractures spiderwebbed outward as Gatmont tore through the spatial bind with brute spiritual force. The pressure wave flattened nearby Gillian corpses and split the ground open.
He emerged breathing heavily.
Not gravely injured—
But drained.
Being cut off from external absorption in Hueco Mundo, while repeatedly firing compressed spiritual pressure cannons, had cost him dearly.
And then he saw it.
His army.
Gone.
Adjuchas lay dismembered.
Some dissolved into reishi fragments.
Others twitched in the lingering toxin haze.
Less than three minutes of isolation.
Total collapse.
Gatmont's pupils narrowed.
Sombravida.
The Battlefield Revealed
The paralysis from Void Beast Thunder.
The clearing devastation of Zero-Type Storm.
The disciplined harvest that followed.
This had not been chaos.
It had been sequencing.
The Alliance lords stood silent at the perimeter, unsettled.
Even they had not expected such efficiency.
"Gatmont," Sombravida said calmly, stepping forward, "it's finished."
Gatmont lifted both shoulder cannons.
Boom!
Twin compressed spiritual blasts tore through the air.
Clang!
A golden membrane unfolded in front of Sombravida.
Anti-Membrana.
The blast distorted, bled sideways, and dispersed.
Behind Sombravida, layered defensive sequencing activated—
Nel first.
Jekain second.
Then numbered replacements.
Timd's system.
No overlap.
No waste.
Gatmont lowered his arm slowly.
He understood.
Breaking that barrier would cost more than he could afford.
The Challenge
"You hide behind numbers," Gatmont snarled.
"You haven't even reached high-tier Adjuchas. What right do you have to lead?"
Sombravida tilted his head slightly.
"I don't need your approval."
"And I never intended for you to live."
"Then face me alone!" Gatmont roared. "Defeat me in single combat if you call yourself king!"
The surrounding Adjuchas laughed.
Sombravida did not.
"A battlefield is not a dueling ground."
"If you wanted honor, you shouldn't have lost your army."
First Exchange
Gatmont attacked again.
This time Sombravida did not raise Anti-Membrana.
He drew the Rift Blade.
A spatial fracture sliced one cannon beam apart.
The second—
Nel intercepted directly, catching it in her maw, redirecting it with compressed recoil.
The returning Cero struck Gatmont squarely.
He staggered—
And froze.
Jekain's binding field locked his limbs for a fraction of a second.
More than enough.
Sombravida vanished.
Shadow Assault
Shadow Dance.
Spatial afterimages flooded the battlefield.
Not illusion—
True coordinate displacement.
Dimensional slashes carved into Gatmont's torso in layered arcs.
Blood sprayed.
But Gatmont was still high-tier.
He endured.
His tail-hammer whipped around with terrifying force.
Sombravida blocked—
But the impact numbed his entire arm.
He retreated instantly.
No ego.
Only calculation.
Tactical Rotation
Sombravida did not press recklessly.
Instead—
He rotated.
Hidden Cero from spatial seams.
Nel's coordinated flank strike.
Jekain's binding windows timed between Gatmont's reiatsu surges.
Forced release.
Forced defense.
Forced expenditure.
Gatmont roared and tore free again—
But every surge drained him further.
Then—
Sombravida committed.
He feinted high—
Spun mid-air—
And executed a delayed Dimensional Slash at the base of Gatmont's tail.
Clean sever.
The tail-hammer fell.
Gatmont screamed.
Jekain sealed again.
Nel pierced one shoulder cannon with an Emerald Spear.
Gatmont retaliated brutally—
Cracking Nel's mask edge and shattering her arm.
Even dying—
He was monstrous.
The End
Sombravida stood.
Breathing steady now.
"Enough."
He raised one hand.
A pale-gold Cero formed.
Nel followed.
Jekain followed.
Then—
Dozens.
Then—
Over a hundred Cero ignited simultaneously.
This was not elegance.
It was execution.
The sky vanished under converging beams.
The explosion lasted long enough to silence even the Alliance lords.
When the smoke cleared—
Gatmont was gone.
No mask.
No body.
Only scorched earth.
Political Settlement
Sombravida turned toward the Alliance leaders.
"Thank you for not interfering."
Their laughter was strained.
They had just witnessed what over a hundred coordinated Adjuchas plus tactical sequencing could accomplish.
They had no intention of testing it.
"You fought well, Lord Sombravida."
Sombravida shook his head lightly.
"The Central Forest war is finished."
"Now we prepare for the Holy War."
The atmosphere shifted immediately.
The Holy War.
Every ten years.
Forest against forest.
Hundreds of Adjuchas.
Tens of thousands of Gillian.
Winner absorbs one-third of the loser's resources.
Loser collapses.
The Central Forest had been weakened by civil conflict.
North Forest had not.
Sombravida's Proposal
"In two years," Sombravida continued calmly, "North Forest will field no fewer than one hundred Adjuchas."
"Perhaps more."
"They won the last war decisively."
"They will push harder."
Silence.
"Our current strength is insufficient."
"I will lead the assault north."
"When the Holy War ends, I will not remain."
Murmurs erupted.
He continued:
"You will retain Central Forest."
"I will take the northern territory."
"You manage here."
"I move inward."
He did not say "Las Noches."
He did not say "Espada."
But the implication was clear.
He was not interested in ruling stagnant land.
He wanted ascent.
Territorial DivisionCentral Tree: neutral governance zone
Eastern Forest: Sombravida's domain
Western / Northwest: alliance administration
No internal warfare
Minimum contribution:
Fifty Adjuchas per alliance.
More equals greater share.
The lords calculated quickly.
Void Beast Thunder had changed warfare.
If Sombravida deployed full numbers—
North Forest would face annihilation.
And they would gain resources without catastrophic loss.
They agreed.
One by one.
Return Home
That night, Sombravida's forces returned east.
Victory had been decisive.
But he did not celebrate.
In the war council chamber—
He began planning again.
Two-Year Horizon
"North Forest likely fields 400+ Adjuchas total," Sombravida said.
"They will send at least 120."
"We must exceed that."
He outlined priorities:
Increase Void Beast Thunder production
Upgrade bomb quality via higher-tier material sources
Centralized Adjuchas combat drills
Language and signal standardization
Reinforcement chain expansion
"Gillian are irrelevant," Sombravida continued.
"With Thunder, mass formations collapse instantly."
"The danger is concentrated high-tier engagement."
He looked at Nel.
"I still lack raw output compared to peak high-tier."
"That must change."
He would enter controlled seclusion training.
Spatial compression refinement.
Reiatsu density stabilization.
Gran Rey Cero integration.
Timd's Role
Timd bowed.
"We can improve yield by upgrading creators first."
"Higher-tier reishi concentration equals stronger payload."
"Alternative weapon models possible—healing bombs, corrosive dispersal, flash disruption."
Sombravida waved lightly.
"Prioritize Thunder mass-production."
"Experiment second."
Final Directive
"Within two years," Sombravida concluded,
"every Adjuchas under us will understand commands, signals, and tactical rotation."
"No chaos."
"No hesitation."
"When the Holy War begins—"
"We will not fight."
"We will erase."
The chamber fell silent.
Outside—
Hueco Mundo's pale moon hung still above the dunes.
The Central Forest had fallen.
North Forest would be next.
And beyond that—
Sombravida's eyes turned inward.
Toward the deeper deserts.
Toward the inner world of Hueco Mundo.
This forest had been only the beginning.
Visit patreon.com/ShiroTL for more chapters.